Method and apparatus for controlling the temperature of the soil



J. G. KIMMEL April 18, 1933.

METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR CONTROLLING THE TEMPERATURE OF THE SOIL FiledApril l1, 1931 Z, Z l l Z Zw; rw !I f l.. ll IIM l..

| IiL.

| X l H Patented Apr. 18, 1933 UNITED lSTATES PATENT oFFlcE JOSEPH G.XIMMEL, on SARA-som, `FLORIDA METHODAND ArPARArUs nonCONTROL-LING;THETEMPERATURE oF THE son;

Application led April 11,

This invention relates to a method and apparatus for controlling thetemperature of the soil. l

The irrigation of land is, of course, old and 5 Well known, having beenpracticed for many Vthe perforations in the pipes to heat the soil.

Similar attempts have been made by ing Warm Water to irrigating ditches.

Attempts of the character referred to for controlling soil temperatureshave proved to be largely impracticable. f It Will be apparent that thesoil is capable of absorbing limited amounts of Water, and any excesssupply of Water results in injury to plants throughy flooding` I 1Accordingly kWith the methods outlined, Warm Water can be supplied tothe soil only in amounts Within reasonable limits to prevent flooding,Yand when the flood stage is approached the vsupply of Water must be cutoli With the result that no 'further Warmth can be imparted to the soilfor a considerablev length of time, and the heat units previouslyconducted to the soil are soon lost throughk conduction y and radiation.Accordingly vit supplytwill be vapparent that WhileJ the suggestedmethods are operative for initially raising the temperature of the soil,they are Wholly inoperative for continuously controlling the temperatureover long periodsA of time to afford protection from the Jfrost, and tohold temperatures favorable to bacterial action. The' present inventionis intended lto overcome the disadvantages of the priorr methods yreferred to and is particularlyapplicable to those farming sectionshaving a porous top soil Vand a substantially' impervious subsoil. Forexample, much of theland in the State of Florida consists of a layer oftopV 1931. serial no. 529,468.

soil approximatelyv twenty-four inchesl ,in depth and of aperviousnature, the sub-soil therebeneath being'substantially impervious.

An important object of the present inven- Y tionis to provide a methodand apparatus for controlling soil'temperatures wherein the applicationVof heat to the soil is rendered continuously possible by drawing oft'the heat- Y ing medium after it has given upits heat to the soil, andthus eliminating the dis'advan- 60 tage of flooding the soil by one ofthe methods previously outlined. Y Y Y A further object is to provide kamethod and apparatus by means of which a continuous circulation of theheating medium'is accomplished to permit the temperature of the soilto-be continuously controlled. y

A furthery object isy to` provide an apparatus adapted for acomplishingthe desired results by supplying a heating medium Vto lthe soil and thenlvvithdravving the medium after it has given up its heat to thev soil topermit the continued introduction of the heating fmedium to maintain thedesiredvsoil tem- 75 perature. ff

Other objects andl advantages of the invention will become apparentduring the course of the following description.

I have found thatfit is Wholly practicable Vto supply a heating medium`tothe soil to 80. Velevate the temperature thereoiand to Withdraw theheating medium'after it has given Y up'its heat to the soil andtherebypermit the continuousintroduction of additional heating medium tomaintain the soil temperature at 85 v vthe desired pointfavorabletoba'cterial action, and to protect the plants from the nfrost. Any desired heating fluid may be Y employed, but in practice ithasbeen found A l advisable and practicable to employ heated 90 Waterfor this purpose. y

y The heating fluid maybe suppliedi to the soil in any'ldesired manner.For-example, Where a substantially impervious earth lies beneath thetopk soil, the Water or other heat- 95 ing medium may be suppliedtotheearth throughv irrigatingV ditches, vfrom lwhich vditches the Waterwill beV absorbed laterally into thesoil because 'of'thegimp'erviousnature of the underlying soil! It is preferred, 170 Yhowever, that the heating medium be supplied through perforated pipeslaidvbeneath the surface of the earth whereby the water may flow intothe soil through the perforations in the pipes. For the reasonspreviously stated, water can be thus supplied to the earth only inlimitedrquantities without causing injury to the plant by flooding, andto overcome this difficulty, I provide take-off pipes for the water toprevent an excess accu? mulation thereof in the"top soil. The talleofl'pipes are also perforated to permit the accumulatedV waterv to--lowvthereinto, and such pipes are spaced r from and so placed with respectto the supplypipes as to receive the water only afterithas flowed asufficient gdist'ance through' the soil to permit it to. impart heatunits thereto so as to maintain the.

soil temperature; y

,Y `For example, in a supply pipes may be laid in spaced parallelyrelation and supplied with water from one end'by a suitable header.

Similar parallel take-oil' pipes may be interposed between the yparallelsupply pipes and spacedtheproper distance therefrom. As water issupplied tothe soil therefore it will be absorbed into the tpervioussoil to raise the temperature thereof, and as the water accumulates, itflows intov the perforations ofthe take-olf pipes ytobe thus drained olfto permit the continuous supply of additional water. n

By suitable `mea-ns to. be' described, the

vwater may be'maintained in the top soil to any desired depth, andthewater drained from the land'maybe discarded or may be returned to thesource ,-to be reheated and .thus provide a ycontinuous circulatingsystem. A'By thel method outlined, a proper soil temperature may bemaintained continuously Without .danger of'injury to the plant byflooding,.and thus proper temperatures'may be maintained which arefavorable to bac-V terial action and which will adequately protect theplant against injury by frost. In

actual practice it has been found that by the useof the presentinvention, tender vegetables such as beans and cucumbers have been`protected against frost over substantial periods of time while, muchhardier plants such as tomatoes were frozen to the ground vat nearbypoints where State of Florida, flowingwells are available for supplyingwater at a temperature of approxiinately 80 F.,.andV water atsuchtemperature has been found practicable Afor use during moderate weatherinthe climate pres- .ent in thatfState, Y During cold periods, the4water may be ,heated slifrhtly or substan- -tiallychigher temperaturesdepending upon the conditions present. At times when itis given tract ofland, the

`pipes 18in that. they are also provided with necessary to only slightlyheat the water, it has been found practicable to supply the water totrays exposed to the direct rays of the sun and sheltered from the wind,and under such conditions, the expense incident to the heating of thewater may be avoided. p In the drawing I have shown one form of aparatusparticularly adapted for practicing the method. In this showing,

Figure 1 is a plan view of a section of land showingthe apparatusinstalled.

Y Figure 2 is a section on line 2 2 of Figure Figure 3 is a of the stopbox,

Figurefl is a horizontal sectionon line detail vertical sectional view'1l-4 of Figure 3, and, u

Figure 5 is a fragmentary perspective view of aportion of one of thefeed pipes.

Referring to Figure 1, the numeral designates a section of land of anysize,'and of the character previously described in connection with whichthe apparatus is adapted to ybe used, thel land including a layer ofpervious top soil 11 with its underlying substantially impervioussub-soil 12. l

. In Figure 1 thernumeral lirepresents .a well connected by a pipe 141Vto a suitable heating plant` 15by means of which the water is heatedVbefore beingconducted to the soil.f

An outletpipe 16 connects the heating plant toa header 17 to which areconnected a plurality of preferablyparallel supply pipes 18.

The oppositefends of thepipes 18 are capped or otherwise closed` as at19.*- As shown in f Figure 5,7the supply pipes are suitably perforatedas at 2Q to` permit thezwater or other'heating mediumto flow from thepipes 'into thesoil. p l

A Take-01T pipes 21, similar ito the pipes 18,'

are arranged as shown in Figure 1,.' these pipes being preferablyparallelandeach arranged-substantially centrally of the space betweenVthe 'adj acent pair of 'pipes 18. The take-olf pipes are identicalwiththe supply perforationsaswill be apparent. Y vi One endof each of thepipes 21 is capped as at'22,w hile the other ends of, these pipes areconnected to an outletlheader 23. The `header23 has one end 'leading toa'stop box 24 shown in detail in Figures 3 and 4. As

shown, jthe stop Ybox is. vertically .arranged and rectangular in crosssection and is divided by a vertical wall `25 to form compartments26S-and 27. Thepipe 23 obviously leads tinto the compartment 2,6, whilewater from the compartment 27 flows therefrom through atake-offpipe 28.Thei'water in,V pipe 28 `may flowLtheref-rom' bygravity, or it may beconnectedtoasuitable pump, as ywill beapparent. Y

kThe wall 25^is provided atVY its lower end ,witlr'a' relativelylarge'opening 29, and asef riesV of smaller Y openings extend throughllO 829 vmild weather,it sometimes will be unnecesvalves 35 to retardthe discharge of Water through the pipes 21 as may be desired.

The operation of the apparatus .is as follows:

Water flows from the well to the heating apparatus 15 andthe temperatureof the Water is raised therein to the desired point. In

sary to heat the water, in which case itis permitted to flow at welltemperature directly into the pipe 16.

.From the pipe 16 the water is supplied through the header 17 to thepipes 18, and ows outwardly through the openings 20 therein to beabsorbedvby the layer of top soil 11. Due to the imperviousnature oftheun-V derlyinu soil 12, the water will spread laterally through the topsoil and will heat the latter by conduction. After the water has givenup its heat to the top soil to raise the temperature thereof, it flowsinto the take-orf pipe 21 through the perforations therein, and thenceflows into the header 23 to the stop boX 24.

If the valve handle 33 is raised to lift the valve 32, the Water willflow directly between the header 23 and pipe 28, and under suchconditions the water will be free to ow directlyfrom the pipes 18 to thepipes 21 without accumulating to a substantial depth in the top soil.Ordinarily-it isdesired to mainf tain the water in the top soil at asubstantial depth in order tov lsecure proper heat transferrance, beforepermitting the waterto be drained out through the pipes 21. Under suchconditions,the valve 32 may be closed, and water will remain in thecompartment 26 until it reaches the level of the lowermost opening 30,at which time it will flow into the compartment 27 to be dischargedthrough the pipe 28.

Accordingly a head of water will be maintained in the compartmentv 26,and water will.

be prevented from flowing into the'perforations of the outletvpipes 2luntil the water accumulates to a depth sufficient to overcome the headof liquid in the compartment 23. At such time the Vfurther accumulationof water inthe soil will-be prevented, and eX- cess water Willbe drainedout to maintain the water ata substantially constant depth. It will beapparent that if it is desired to maintain the Water at a greaterdepth,VV a

of introduction into the soil. y

2. The method of elevating; and controlplug may be inserted in thelowermost opening-30, and thus the accumulation of a higher head ofliquid will be caused in the compartment 26and'thus water will not bedrained from the top'v soil until itreaches a corresponding depth. Anynumber of the openings 30 may be closed ina similar manner to cause thedesired accumulation ofy water in the top soil. Y Y

Y It will be apparent that the rate of supply of Water to various partsof the land through the pipes 18 may lbe controlled by the valves 34.AIn a similar Inanner,'the discharge of Water from any part of thev landmay be controlled by proper operation of lthe valves 35.

From the foregoing it will beapparentV in the soil obviously can bereadily controlled by proper operation of the stop box, and by operatingthe valves 311 and 35.

' Thus itwill be` apparent that a continuous damage to the plants byflooding isprevented.V In other words, water is supplied con- 495circulation of heating liquid is provided and at an equal ratefrom thesoil through the pipes 21 to be discarded 'or yused again.v For example,the discharge pipe 28readily may be connected to thev heating apparatusto recirculate the discharged water if desired.

It is to be understood that the form of the invention herewith shown anddescribed `is to be taken as a preferredexample of the same vand thatvarious changes in the shape,

' favorable to plant growth which comprises continuously supplying aliquid heating medium to the soil beneath the surface thereof,

'110 vsize andV arrangement of parte may be reandcontinuously.withdrawing the medium vfrom the soil beneath the surfacethereof at av point horizontally spaced. from its point ling thetemperature of thesoil tovrender it favorable to plant `growth. whichcomprises pointsbeneath the surface of the soil,: and

vcontiiniously supplying .a liquid heating me-y dium from aV commonpoint to a plurality of continuously withdrawing the medium from thesoil beneath the surface thereof at a plurality of points horizontallyspaced from the Vpoints of introduction ,of the liquid,

3. The method of elevating and controlling the temperature of the soilto render it favorable to plant growth which comprises heating a liquidmedium, conducting Vthe medium to and discharging it at a plurality ofspaced points beneath the surface of the soil, and continuouslywithdrawing the medium from the soil beneath the vsurface thereof at 'aplurality7 of points. horizontally spaced from the points ofintroduction of the liquid into'the soil. y

4. The method of elevating and controlling the temperature lof the soilto render it favorable to' plant 'growth which comprises continuouslysupplying a liquid medium at an elevatedA temperature to the soilbeneath the surface thereof, maintaining the level of .the liquid in thesoil at a given point beneath the-surface of the latter, andcontinuously drawing olf excess accumulations of the liquid from thesoil.

' 5. The method of elevating and controlling the temperature of the soilto render it favorable to plant growth which comprises continuouslysupplying a heated liquid medium lto the soil at a point substantiallybeneath the surface thereof, maintaining the .level of theyliquid at apoint between its place .of introduction int-o the soil and the surfaceofthe soil, and continuously withdrawing excess accumulations of theliquid from the soil.

6. The method of elevating and controlling the temperature of thev soilto render it Vfavorable to plant growth which comprises neath thesurface ofthe soil, maintaining the Y level of the liquid at a pointbetween the surfaceV of the soil and the level of thezp'oints ofintroduction of the liquid Yinto the soil, and continuously withdrawingkexcess vaccumulations of the liquid from the soil.

7. The method ofvelevating andcontrollingl the temperature ofthe soil torender it favorable to plant growth which comprises -heating aliquidmedium, conducting the medium to and discharging it at a point beneaththe surface of the soil,rmaintaining thelevel of the liquid at a givenpoint beneath the surfaceof the soil, andcontinuouslydrawing o excessaccumulations of the liquid from the soil. f f

8. Apparatus of the characterdescribed comprising a substantiallyvhorizontal conduit for conducting a liquid heating medium to apointbeneath the surface Vof andi discharging it to the soil, means forsupplying 'a liquid heating'medium to said conduit, and

means whollyY separate from said conduit for continuously 'withdrawingthe medium from the soil at a point'horizontally spaced from its vpointof introduction thereinto.

VQApparatus of the'ch'aracter described.

comprising means for conducting a liquid medium to. a plurality ofpoints beneath the y Vsurface of the soil and discharging it at suchpoints, meansfor supplying a vliquid heating medium to said lirst namedmeans, and a take-off conduit wholly separate from said lirst namedmeans and horizontallyV spaced therefrom for withdrawing the liquidmedium from the soil. i

l0. Apparatus of the character described comprising a substantiallyhorizontal conduit arranged beneath the surface of the soil and having apluralityof discharge 'openarranged beneath the surface of the soil andhaving a plurality of discharge openings,

means for supplying a liquid heating medium'v'to said conduit to bedischarged into the soil through said openings, and a take-off conduitwholly .separate from said first named conduit spaced from and parallelto said first named conduit andpio'vided'with a pluraiity of spacedopenings adapted to permit the continuous vflow of the liquid me- -diumin the soil into said take-off conduit. V

12. Apparatus of the' character described Vcomprisinga conduit forconducting a'liquid heating medium to a point beneath the 'surfaceof-and discharging it to the soil, ymeans for maintaining ythe level ofthe medium at a point betweenthe surface of the dium into the soil,fand' a take-olf conduit "adapted to continuouslyV withdraw liquidv ityof spaced openings adapted to permit the continuous flow of the liquidmedium from tliefsoil into said take-ofi conduit. Y

In testimony whereof I anixmy signature. Y Vv-":JOSlll?H G. KIMMEL;

soil'and the point of introduction of the mei 110

